A motorcyclist has been accused of assault and libel for allegedly picking up a cigarette butt and throwing it inside the car of the person who she thought had discarded it.
The woman, surnamed Wu (吳), said she saw a cigarette butt tossed out of a car while she was waiting at a traffic light on Sec 3, Minquan E Road in Taipei’s Zhongshan District (中山) at about 6pm on Friday.
She then picked up the cigarette butt and tossed it back into car’s front passenger side, the window of which was rolled down.
Photo: Screen grab from TVBS’ Web site
The incident was captured on video by other motorcyclists at the scene, which Wu later posted on social media, calling on the person not to discard cigarette butts again.
“Otherwise I will pick it up and throw it back into your car again,” she said.
An Internet user who claimed to be the car’s driver commented on Wu’s post, saying the cigarette butt was not discarded by the person on the front passenger seat.
The front-seat passenger, a man surnamed Lien (連), sustained second-degree burns on his foot from the cigarette butt Wu threw into his window, the user said.
Lien has undergone medical examination, and would sue Wu for assault and libel, they added.
Police said the cigarette butt was allegedly discarded by a passenger in the back seat through a half-opened window on the right side of the car.
Wu has been notified and the back-seat passenger who allegedly discarded the cigarette butt would be asked to make a statement at the police station, they said.
Police added they would investigate the case and transfer it to the city’s environmental authority for penalties on cigarette butt littering.
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